Lighting Focus: The Cloud by Airstar

I was introduced to the The Cloud by Airstar on the Adam Sandler film Bedtime Stories. The look of the film called for a magical, stylized reality, and the filmmakers agreed that this reality didn’t include hard sun coming into contact with faces. Unfortunately, a number of scenes and locations were too remote to bring in a crane and overhead. My key grip, John Janucek, suggested The Cloud.  By the end of the film we had brought it out a dozen times.  It consists of one to four 20-foot by 20-foot balloons, which can be zipped together or used separately. Two Airstar technicians inflate the balloons quickly, and throughout the day reposition The Cloud as the sun travels from one side of the set to the other. Even when it got windy the tag lines held it in place. The techs don’t treat it as delicately as you might expect and one afternoon they lost a battle attempting to get it though some tree branches.  Twenty minutes later it was patched up and flying. In addition to sun control, we also used it as a 40-foot by 40-foot bounce for both day and night exteriors. It has attachments ranging from variations in density via nets or diffusion, to green screen.  I love this thing.  – DP Michael Barrett

Credits: Bone Deep, Bedtime Storie, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Mysteries of Pittsburg, Bobby, Goal, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

www.airstar-light.com